Danger Zone
by butterfly.cell
Summary: Jack got a message and the only thing he can do is find the man who sent it. Will that be enough to keep his relationship with Ianto safe? Sequel to 'Just Like A Man' and 'Dizzy'. Jack/Ianto, M/M relations
1. Chapter 1

Okay guys! This is the second full installment of the 'Just Like A Man' series. It starts about an hour after Dizzy, though just know that Jack got a hollogram message at the end will ready you to read this.

It can be read separately, but I think the whole point of the story (developing a hugely strong connection between the boys) is lost if you don't know the struggle for them to get where they are at the beginning of this fic - the last two sections of the series won't make much sense either, unless you understand the development.

I really hope you enjoy this :)

Disclaimer: The characters and locations belong to RTD, lyrics by Gwen Stefani

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**Danger Zone**

Chapter 1

_**I can't imagine how hard it must be, to be you  
**__**Adopting all your history, it's hard being me too**_

Jack was on the phone to the rest of the team almost immediately, Ianto getting ready to take the SUV to the location that the hologram was sent from.

"Right, the others will be back at the Hub, we'll go get them and I'll get the location to go from there." Jack said, distracted. Ianto kept his mouth shut, though his mind was running at a thousand miles an hour. He simply nodded and pulled his coat on over his newly donned suit and tie.

It took them twenty minutes to round everyone up and stop everyone's complaints and questions. Jack was just sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV and concentrating on his wrist strap, paying attention to very little else.

"Ianto, do you have any idea what's going on?" Gwen asked eventually, Jack directing them every so often.

"I'm in the dark as much as you." Ianto's voice was curt and precise, though still polite. He was trying very hard to stop himself from making this even worse. Right now, they needed to sort this out. Questions could be answered later on and snapping at Gwen never helped anyone but him.

"Alright, he's at the Reunion Bar, less than five minutes away." Jack said suddenly, snapping the strap closed and looking up, meeting Ianto's eye with an apology and a promise – an apology for this sudden intrusion into their lives and a promise to explain it.

Ianto nodded slightly, knowing that Jack would see, and put his foot down on the acceleration. Silently, Jack was rolling his eyes at the drama the stranger had caused. _Reunion Bar… how fitting_, he thought acidly.

They were at the bar in less than three minutes. Once they screeched to a stop, Tosh and Owen took one side, Gwen and Ianto took the opposite and Jack went through the main doors. The comms were on and everyone could hear just what Jack was saying to the visitor and what the visitor said to him.

*

"What are you wearing?" The man sneered, flicking his eyes over Jack's outfit with an amused gloating in his eyes.

"Captain Jack Harkness, note the stripes." Jack spat in reply, trying to keep his intense annoyance under control as he approached the bar. "Yourself?"

"Captain John Hart, note the sarcasm." The other man grinned and wiggled his eyebrows, Jack rolling his eyes in return. _So we're both going by different names now, interesting_, Jack thought with a grimace.

"Hey, I worked my way up through the ranks." No matter what the other man said he was, after Jack had taken on his name, he'd made sure he'd earned it.

"I bet the ranks were very grateful." John said with another sneer. After a moment, he sighed heavily and looked towards the bar wistfully. "I need a drink."

Jack rolled his eyes and lead the way to two of the barstools, John reaching over for a bottle before he was even seated.

Since he'd returned to Cardiff and learned the Doctor was coming, Jack hadn't drunk much at all. He never wanted to be faced with a situation in which he couldn't get to the Doctor because he was tied up drunk or otherwise. He could've lived with the anger at another person stopping him from getting to the TARDIS in time, but if it had been himself? Well, he'd never be able to look at himself again.

It was only then that Jack noticed just how much of the vodka John had managed to get through in those few moments of reflection. He glanced from his own bottle to the other and found a disturbing difference.

"So how was rehab?" Jack said wearily, watching as John finished the bottle off in one long gulp.

"Rehabs." John grinned, wiping his chin free from the liquid that had escaped his lips. "Plural."

"Drink, drugs, sex and?" Jack frowned slightly, gripping his bottle loosely as he took a swig of it.

"Murder." John said sheepishly, grinning at Jack.

"You went to murder rehab?" Jack laughed loudly.

"I know, ridiculous. The odd kill, who does it hurt?" John smiled as he reached for another bottle of drink from behind the bar.

"You clean now?" Jack asked seriously. He didn't want to risk his team running foul of John.

"Yeah. Kicked everything. Living like a priest." John said with another smile, pulling the cap from the bottle with his teeth and scarfing half the bottle in one go. _Still a compulsive liar then_, Jack thought as he rolled his eyes.

"So, how's the Time Agency?" Jack said, as his thoughts trailed into his past. The Time Agency was the same era as his time knowing John, wanting to know what had happened seemed logical to him.

"You didn't hear?" John put his bottle down abruptly and stared at Jack with something akin to pain in his eyes. "It's, ah, shut down."

"You're kidding." Jack was in shock. The Time Agency had closed?

"No. There's only seven of us left now." John looked away, a brooding expression on his face.

"Wow." Jack let out a low whistle and stared at the bottle in his hand. There was a long moment of silence before he felt John's eyes on him again.

"It's good to see you. It was never the same without you." He murmured, leaning in towards Jack, a look Jack hadn't seen from him for a long time smouldering in his eyes. With a sudden jerk, Jack remembered what he was here to do.

Send John away.

Jack leaned in, leaving only inches between their lips, before speaking. "You need to go. I don't want you on my territory."

"What?" John flinched back, looking both angry and incredulous. He slammed his bottle on the bar and pulled two handguns smoothly from their holsters.

"Time was, you couldn't get enough of me on your 'territory'." He hissed at Jack, shooting straight into the glass panels in the doors at each end of the large room. "All right, everybody out!"


	2. Chapter 2A

Dunno why I split this chapter up.. I think it was for the total count.. but w/e, s'all good!

I'm currently suffering from the mother of all blisters on the back of my thumb cos I got stupid when I was taking something out of the oven. I didn't get the angle right and my hand just went straight into the oven shelf above! It hurts like hell, so Janto to make it better, i think :)

Enjoy!

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Chapter 2A

Gwen was the first one into the room.

She'd been hanging onto Jack's every word, as per usual, and had her hands up in the air and her 'stay calm, everything's okay' expression on. At least she was still _holding_ her gun. Jack groaned in annoyance and buried his face in his hands.

Tosh, Owen and Ianto all trailed in after that, seemingly in the same state of mind as Jack was; both embarassed and annoyed at Gwen's reaction to the stranger's words. Tosh and Owen levelled off and approached the two men by the bar, shoulder to shoulder and guns trained on John.

Ianto was following behind Gwen as they approached at the same speed. Jack just thanked whatever God there was that Gwen had lowered her hands from her shoulders. It was one of the more ridiculous things he'd seen from the woman, even if she had now joined her colleagues in pointing her gun at John.

When they stopped, Ianto kept his gun levelled on the man in front of him, a blank look on his face, the barrel trained right between his eyes.

"Everything all right, Jack?" Gwen chimed in, looking towards Jack, who was still looking a little deflated, hunched over the bar and shaking his head gently.

"It's okay, Gwen." Jack said with more than a hint of resignation in his voice. Despite himself, Ianto smiled at his lover and Jack caught the flicker of emotion as he looked up and around, letting his own, answering smile into his eyes for the briefest of moments.

"You've got a team! How sweet! Oh, pretty little friends… No blonde, though. You need a blonde." The man in front of the team turned to look at Jack with a shark-like grin.

"God, he's worse than Jack." The medic rolled his eyes and readjusted his stance, flexing his fingers around his gun's grip in annoyance. John ignored him and turned to Ianto.

"What happened to you?" The man asked bluntly, gesturing to Ianto's plastered up cheek.

"I got on the wrong side of an accountant." Ianto replied wryly, allowing himself a small smile at the snort of amusement from Jack. The stranger just raised an eyebrow and looked around them again.

"Oh, do you have a team name? I love team names, go on!" The man was bouncing on the balls of his feet slightly, challenge lacing his words.

"Torchwood." Jack growled. His temper was starting to come to it's end with John. He just wanted to get this over with now, before he managed to get him in any more trouble with Ianto.

"Oh." He looked deflated, pursing his lips slightly. "Not Excalibur? Blizzard? Bikini Cops? No? Torchwood. Oh, dear." John raised his eyebrows and looked at the floor in disapproval.

"Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, meet-" Jack began, pointing to his team members in turn.

"Captain John Hart." John cut in with a sly smile. If Jack was going to lie about his name to his team, then so was he. Not that they'd ever know the difference.

"We go back." Jack said with a sigh, pointedly avoiding Ianto's eyes. He didn't want to face him quite yet. This needed to be explained alone. He wanted to tell the young man things that he didn't want the others to know.

"Excuse me. We more than go back." John said to Jack, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. Then he turned to the team, with a glint of malice in his eyes. "We were partners."

"In what way?" Ianto ground out, his teeth gritted against a cascade of questions he wanted to direct at Jack.

John turned to look at the young man with a smirk and Jack fervently prayed that Ianto would give him the chance to explain this, ignoring the way his heart twisted painfully at the look on his lover's face.

"In every way." John said with a malicious grin. Jack groaned inwardly and looked away from Ianto, silently glad that the young man managed to keep his face free of emotion. It was just their luck for one of Jack's ex-lover's to arrive on the scene when things were finally starting to go right. "And then some."

"It was two weeks." Jack said, shooting a withering look at John as he stood up from the bar stool he'd been seated at.

"Except that two weeks was trapped in a time loop, so we were together for five years." John said, turning back around to look directly at Jack, fixing him with a look before turning round with a shake of his head. "It was like having a wife."

"You were the wife." Jack instantly retorted.

"_You_ were the wife." John replied, grinning in a playful way. Jack looked at him pointedly.

"No, YOU were the wife." Jack said once more, pointing at him this time. John's smile broke into a grin and leaned forwards.

"Oh, but I was a good wife." He said temptingly, Jack rolling his eyes at the more than obvious hint to the sexual relationship between them. It had always been a fight for dominance until one of them conceded. Then the fun really started.

"I bet you were." Jack's eyebrows shot up once more as he and everyone else turned to look at Tosh in astonishment. She blushed and shrugged slightly. "What? Don't pretend you haven't noticed, he's cute."

"They're just shy." John replied, winking at her.

"What are you doing here?" Jack cut in, sensing that the conversation had deviated far enough from his original cause.

"I was wondering when we'd get to that." John replied with a sigh, knowing he wouldn't get to wind up Jack or his team any more right now. He pulled his sleeve up and opened his wrist strap.

"That's the same as yours." Tosh said in surprise, pointing to the leather cuff.

"A little smaller." Jack growled lightly.

"But lasts _much_ longer." John said with a pointedlook to the captain. Jack rolled his eyes once more and moved from behind John to stand next to Ianto, closing the semi circle around him. "Get two Time Agents in the same room together, it's always about the size of the wrist strap."

"Yeah, sorry, what's a Time Agent?" Owen asked, unable to keep the question at bay. Jack felt Ianto tense dangerously next to him.


	3. Chapter 2B

This one's a little shorter, but I hope you liked it :) I start to move my storyline away fromt he KKBB script in this one, moving onto my own one - though there are still similarities!

Please enjoy!

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Chapter 2B

"What, he's never told you about his past?" John looked at Jack with another malicious sneer on his face. Jack held his gaze steadily, not feeling the confidence he was projecting.

"No, he hasn't." Gwen said sharply, her eyes accusing and her lips pouting. Jack resisted the urge to tell her to back off - it wouldn't do any good.

"And right now, that's not what matters." Jack almost snarled at the woman, turning back to look at John. "Tell me why the hell you're here."

"Fine." John said archly, pouting a little as Jack took a step closer, asserting his dominance once more. "I was pet sitting for someone, they were away for the weekend – amazing mansion near Midnight, beautiful scenery and even better house staff – but they got through the fences around the enclosure and made their way into the Rift storm that started."

John pressed a couple of buttons on his wrist strap and a hologram shimmered into life – the same grainy, blue image that Jack's had produced. It showed a beast with long, cream fur, shaggy and matted around it's thick limbs and hunched figure. It looked just like a yeti, it's tusks curling up from it's bottom jaw and it's dark, innocent eyes blinking out from under a fringe of fur.

"We caught one of those earlier." Owen said, a little confused.

"Please tell me it's still alive?" John almost begged. Ianto felt a smug satisfaction at the worry in his face.

"Of course it is." Jack snapped, drawing John's attention back. "How many?"

"Four in total, but you seem to have one down now anyway." John shut off the hologram and shoved his hands in his pockets, a smile smile on his face as he looked at Jack intently. Jack chewed on his lip as he considered what to do.

"Ianto, watch him." Jack said after a minute, signalling Ianto to step closer and keep his gun raised. Jack directed the other three members of his team across the room. Ianto watched them leave from the corner of his eye, keeping his attention on the man in front of him.

"So what's he like as a boss, Eye-Candy?" John asked with a suggestive grin. Ianto looked back at him with a deadpan face. He didn't want to even think about the pain that was threatening to take over his senses at the thought of having John near Jack for an extended period of time.

Ianto kept his mouth closed and started counting in his head, ignoring the snarls and flares of anger still licking at his insides. John noticed the slight tightening of his jaw and the hardening of his eyes and grinned maliciously. "I guess I should be asking 'what's he like as a lover?', shouldn't I?"

Ianto fixed his eyes on the man silently but said nothing. There was nothing to say. _You owe me one hell of an explanation, Jack Harkness_, he thought viciously, ignoring the delighted crowing of the man across from him.

"I knew it would be you! Well, you or the brunette." Ianto very nearly growled at that one. He hated the memories of Gwen fawning after Jack. It didn't help that she was quite probably still interested in him. "You know, there's only so much a man like Jack can get from a hell hole like this. He'll leave soon enough. I mean, he only has one life, why waste it here?"

Ianto couldn't help but smile at that remark, making John look up from where he'd been examining his nails in confusion. He stared hard into Ianto's eyes, but the young man was suddenly fuelled by the fact that he knew something about Jack that this man didn't.

"Oh, I don't know." Ianto said with a slight shrug. "Maybe if you've been here as long as he has, you'd learn to love the finer things that twenty first century Cardiff has to offer."

"I'm sure I could, Eye-Candy." John replied, immediately smothering his confusion with a look of seduction and a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows. Ianto snorted in amusement.

"No offence, but you're really not my type." Ianto said with a dry smile. John straightened up a little.

"Oh?" He asked casually, watching the young man intently. "What _is_ your type then?"

"Not you." Ianto said with a smile, his mouth closing to hold by the bitter laughter he felt bubbling through his throat. John gritted his teeth and watched Ianto silently, lips pursed as he chewed lightly on the inside of his cheek. Whilst Ianto was beginning to feel increasingly uncomfortable under his gaze, he didn't let a single hint of it show. He wasn't giving in that easily.

However, when he heard Jack approaching them and John looked over, Ianto sighed inwardly, relief flooding his tense muscles.

"You," Jack stabbed his index finger at John's chest, a dangerous expression on his face, "are coming with me and Ianto."

Ianto looked around at the team, who'd already headed out of the door. "Sir?"

"Oh, you call him 'sir'? How kinky." John wiggled his eyebrows again but Ianto pointed his gun coolly at John's head again, the barrel of the pistol almost touching his temple. The smirk on the man's face fell and he flinched away, letting Jack twist his arms behind his back, snapping a pair of hand cuffs on him.

"The rest are getting a cab back to the Hub, we're taking _him_ via the SUV." Jack said, glowering at the back of the man's head. Ianto nodded stiffly and gestured for them to go first. He wasn't planning on letting John out of his eyesight any time soon.


	4. Chapter 3

The intrigue and action starts to pick up a little from here... there's not much 'action' til the end, but there's alot of Jack's past and relationship convolutions thrown about cos of John's presence! I haven't read this story through for a while, and I remember not liking it much once I'd finished, but it's really growing on me!

I hope you like it guys! Thankyou all for the comments :)

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Chapter 3

They walked in silence to the SUV, apart from John, who was happily chattering away about a sexual encounter this reminded him of.

_Just like Jack used to be_, Ianto thought, his teeth gritted. He continued to walk to the driver's side door as Jack shoved John roughly in the back seat. Before Ianto could climb behind the wheel, Jack grabbed his arm.

"I promise you, Ianto." Jack said sincerely, looking at him carefully. "I promise you that I'll explain everything that I can to you once he's gone. Once he's back through the Rift, we'll talk."

Jack rested his hand gently on Ianto's cheek before climbing in next to John, the look of affection that had been on his face gone in an instant as he faced their captive. Now his features were hardened and scowling in distaste. Jack refused to give John any ammunition to rile his lover with.

Ianto too had lost all sign that he'd just allowed himself to be vulnerable for Jack as he pulled his door shut and flipped the key in the ignition.

"What exactly will these things do if we don't catch them all?" Jack asked in a cold voice, his eyes fixed on the road through the windscreen and Ianto's eyes in the rear-view mirror alternately.

"Oh, they'll tear the city apart in their confusion." John said casually, looking out of the window as the lights and cars sped past them, leaving orange and red streamers in the dark sky. "They're expensive though, been in that family for decades. Almost irreplaceable, so don't even think about killing any of them."

"Like I would." Jack snapped at him.

"Once upon a time, _Jack_," John turned to look at him saying his name with heavy sarcasm and humour, "You wouldn't have thought twice about it."

Jack's eyes were fixed on Ianto's in the mirror, but his gaze hadn't left the road, he gave no outward sign that he'd heard anything. Jack knew that he had though - he could tell by the slight tightening of the muscles in his arms as he increased his grip on the wheel.

The rest of the journey was quiet. Ianto hadn't said another word and Jack had stopped answering John's questions, leading to John giving up asking them. Instead, they all brooded separately about different things, though they were all interlinked.

John sat quietly and fumed at Jack, wondering what had possessed him to stay in such a hell hole. What could possibly have happened to make him such a different person? He wanted _his_ 'Jack' back, he wanted the man he'd fallen in love with all that time ago.

Right now though, he wanted nothing better than to break his rehab once again and blow Jack's brains out once and for all.

Jack was staring ahead of them and silently cursing John for showing his face here. It had been over a hundred and fifty years for him and he'd changed so much. He wasn't proud of his past, it wasn't the person he was today. He could only pray that Ianto knew that – deep down he knew the young man did, for Ianto had an uncanny ability for seeing the real people beneath the layers of persona and the lies.

Ianto had always seen Jack for who he really was – for better or worse.

Ianto didn't think about anything in particular – he didn't curse anyone, didn't pray for anything, didn't wish for any other situation. Ianto just resigned himself to a long few hours, at the least, of this repulsive man's company. He wanted Jack to himself - the past few days hadn't been long enough to make up for all those weeks apart.

There was still so much he needed to talk to Jack about, so much that he needed to understand if they were going to make things work between them.

Only now, there was even more. Ianto knew it, Jack knew it and apparently John did too. Ianto knew that whatever 'John' said about Jack, whoever the man that 'John' knew was, he wouldn't be the same person Ianto had grown to love and respect – Ianto's Jack was so much older and wiser than he had been before he'd met the Doctor. Jack had shared the story with him one night as they lay curled up in bed.

Ianto clung to the fact and gritted his teeth as he pulled up in the secret car park, Jack hauling John roughly from the SUV and through the hidden door, Ianto following them quickly. John let out a constant stream of snide remarks about the passage way until Jack pushed him through a door and out into the Hub.

"Whoa." John said, stepping out of the tunnel and looking around him. "It's roomy, I'll give you that. Your taste in interior design hasn't got any better, though. What is this, sewer chic?"

"Weapons." Jack said, uncuffing John's hands and moving round to stand opposite him now that the door was sealed, taking each item as John handed them over, passing the two guns and the katana to Ianto. "And the rest."

"Oh, you know me, I'm a two-weapon man." John replied silkily, smirking temptingly at Jack, who just raised an eyebrow in disapproval.

"One pistol strapped to each leg, laser knife beneath left elbow… seventeen small explosive charges in the lining of his coat." Tosh said from her desk, having run a scan the moment he walked into the large room.

"Slipped my mind." John said with a scowl, pulling the various other pieces of weaponry and handing them to Jack, who placed them on a tray Gwen had approached with. Ianto dumped the three weapons he was holding and headed down to the vaults, Jack pulling John along by the elbow. "Do I get the grand tour then?"

Jack shot him one of his most charming smiles and John frowned, walking into the room and then past Ianto, who was holding a large metal door open. Before he could turn round and run in the opposite direction, Ianto had slammed the door closed and Jack was twisting the lock shut.

They left the room to the sound of John's indignant yells and curses, Jack slipping his hand into Ianto's and weaving their fingers together.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_**Are your secrets where you left them?**_

_**Cause now your ghosts are mine as well**_

_**I think it's time I met them and I think it's time you tell**_

Ianto didn't say anything to Jack about the thin ice he was currently standing on, but he didn't pull away from his touch nonetheless. He was currently torn between leaving Jack be, in the hopes that it would make him make John disappear sooner, and holding onto Jack so hard that the other man would give up and leave on his own.

The only way that left Ianto with any dignity was to leave Jack alone as much as possible. Somehow, he still couldn't do that. With an inward sigh, he let himself carry on as normal, tightening his grip on Jack's hand a little as they walked. When they got back up to the main area, Jack sent the others home, holding Tosh back for a moment as Ianto went off to make them both a cup of coffee.

"Have you started those scans?" Jack asked, wanting to make sure that they could get the show on the road as soon as possible but not wanting any of the others to know how anxious John's presence made him.

"Yup, they're all set up for an alarm to sound once the locations have been clarified." Tosh beamed at him as she pulled on her coat and headed towards the door. On a last thought, she turned and looked at him. "Be careful, Jack."

"What does that mean?" Jack asked, frowning a little in confusion.

"It means," Tosh said with a slight purse of her lips, "that whoever John is to you, whatever you may have been in the past, he obviously still thinks it's the same. I would hate to see you lose Ianto because of that, not after all you two have been through to put the pieces back together."

Jack nodded slowly and watched the woman leave. He couldn't help but think that her words of warning rung with the heavy sound of fate. With a shake of his head, he shoved the thought aside and went back to his office, knowing Ianto would head there once he was done.

He sat down in his desk chair with a sigh and leaned back gently, closing his eyes briefly as he let the tide of memories creep just a little further on him.

… "_This is your fault!" John yelled at him, glaring from across the narrow canyon floor._

"_Me? How the hell was it _my_ fault? You're the one who altered the directions." Jack snarled turning and pacing away from the other man. Of all the places in all of the galaxies, they got stuck in this one. They'd been sent to investigate and resolve a significant temporal anomaly, but John had already managed to cock things up._

_They were given a chip at command which needed to be slotted into the flight computer. After that, it was sit back and observe the scenery until you arrived, from which you would scan and test the area to source and sort out the problem._

_Only this time, John had decided he wanted to be closer to the anomaly than the chip was designated for, resetting the coordinates so they landed on the edge of the displacement, sucked into the centre. _

_Now they were stuck in the middle of what seemed to be a dessert, at the bottom of a canyon that's base was only a few feet across but half a mile down, stretching in either direction for as far as they could see. Jack growled and kicked at the wall next to him, barely registering his foot's complaint. _

"_If you don't get me out of here and back home in time for tonight, you're going to wish you'd never been born." Jack said darkly, glowering at the other man. He would've pulled his sonic blaster to the man's head, but not even he was that petty. _

"_Sure, sure." John rolled his eyes and pulled up his wrist strap, tapping coordinates and scanning the area for the ship. He managed, after half an hour, to work out that they'd been teleported via the temporal shift, and that all they had to do was initiate a stasis field in the heart of the disturbance to reverse everything and correct the damage._

"_Mess with the coordinates again and I'll blow your head off." Jack said as he settled back down into the driver's seat. John began to smirk, but Jack caught him. "And not in the good way."_

_Of course, John had done it again, but the next time, they were stuck in a two week time loop that lasted five years …_

"Sir?" Ianto's voice was harsh, snapping Jack from his mind and making him look up in alarm. Ianto was almost scowling. "I hope I didn't distract you from anything."

"Not really, seeing him again just brought back memories." Jack muttered. As soon as he'd said it, he backtracked, Tosh's parting sentence still echoing in his head. "Missions and such. We used to argue all the time, get in trouble, get lost. You know the drill."

"No, I don't actually." Ianto said quietly, leaning back against the wall instead of sitting down. There were no mugs in his hands, so he'd obviously abandoned that idea. Jack looked up at him guiltily as he continued coolly. "I'm perfectly aware of the fact that you had a completely different life before you met the Doctor, but I don't now anymore than that. You can't expect me to be able to identify with that side of you."

"Ianto, you said it. That's a different part of me." Jack sighed and looked away, shaking his head. "The person John's knows me as isn't who I am now. You don't need to know what I used to be."

"Maybe not before this, but yes. Now I do." Ianto said firmly, his eyes blazing angrily as Jack looked up in alarm once more. "No more hiding, Jack. No more keeping things to yourself! When I told you I wasn't leaving, that meant that we were going to share our lives and you knew that. Whether you like it or not, whoever you were is still a part of you. I'm not asking to know everything, I'm asking to know the things that John will try to use as ammunition. Whatever your ghosts are, they belong to me as well now… I _want_ to share them…"

Ianto's expression had softened a little and Jack had begun to nod slowly, swinging from side to side in his chair as he chewed on his lip, trying to work out what John would say and what Ianto needed to know. There were going to be things that would emerge from his ex-partner that would show him in the worst light possible, that would make him seem like the most cold hearted and ruthless villain in the world.

He knew that he wouldn't be able to keep that from Ianto and just hoped he kept to his word that he knew he was a different person. Some of the things Jack had done would be enough to change even the strongest lover's heart.


	6. Chapter 5

Merry christmas everyone! I hope you've all had a goood few days and are enjoying your holidays :)

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Chapter 5

"You have to understand - before I say anything - that I'm going to tell you things that will most likely make you think of me differently." Jack sighed, halting Ianto in his tracks as he made to protest. "The man I used to be – who I was… I'm not proud of it and I've changed."

"Jack, just talk to me." Ianto said wearily, nodding his acceptance of Jack's words.

"Okay, fine." Jack looked down at his hands, resting on the desk. "In around the forty ninth century, most species had mastered some form of time travel and over the next hundred years or so, that technology advanced and evolved. Eventually, some races began to make weapons for time warfare. It was after a decade of this that the Time Agency began, early in the fifty first century, it's job to protect the time space continuum.

"I was signed up when I was sixteen, I couldn't stick around at home anymore, so I left. I soon learned that the Agency wasn't what it had been when it began. Over the decades, it'd been corrupted and altered - not that I minded at that point. On my first job, I killed five people." Ianto moved then to sit down opposite Jack, watching him with a calm, passive expression. He wasn't about to judge him, not now, not out loud.

"We were sent to investigate a temporal disturbance and we found a rogue cell testing a new type of weapon, which had ripped a whole through time and created something similar to the Rift. We closed it down and before we left, I was ordered to shoot the people responsible. I did it. Without questioning or hesitation, I shot them."

"What happened after that?" Jack saw Ianto's face tighten slight with shock, though his expression didn't move from the slight frown of concentration. Jack swallowed hard before he could carry on, averting his eyes from where Ianto sat.

"I found out that my first mission had been a cakewalk." Jack laughed bitterly and ran his hands through his hair. "I soon learned that not a week went by when I didn't have to kill someone – it made me hardened and ruthless. I didn't care who died at my hands as long as I got paid and could afford a good drink and some gratification in the evening.

"That went on for years, maybe ten. Then I got assigned to work with John – his reputation preceded him. We were perfectly matched and we kept each other in line. John was always one for bending the rules. He used to change coordinates on the flight computer and we would get stuck in strange times and places until one of use managed to work out a way to get back."

"What about that two week time loop he was talking about?" Ianto asked quietly. Jack grimaced in reply but nodded.

"He changed the coordinates to take us closer to the temporal anomaly and we got sucked in. We were stuck in this small town on an outer world colony, trying to repair our wrist straps, which were malfunctioning." Jack shook his head in disapproval. "I doubt either of us were used to going for more than a couple of days without a shag, but surprisingly, we managed to hold off for about eight weeks, until we realised that the loop was harder to get out of than usual. Two weeks turned into five years, and eventually we managed it, I forget how."

"Okay." Ianto nodded and rubbed his eyes, stifling a yawn. "Thank you, Jack."

"Ianto?" Jack asked as the young man headed to the door, surprised that he hadn't commented on anything he'd been told.

"Hmm?" Ianto turned to look at him, confusion in his eyes.

"I'm not that man, whatever John says. I'm not that man." Jack was almost begging Ianto to believe him. The young man just smiled and nodded, his mind silently reeling from the sheer volume of Jack's past. There seemed to be even more than he'd thought before.

As he walked through to the kitchen area, Ianto mused. He knew Jack had a past and he knew that something had happened to make him as world weary as he was now, as cynical yet blindingly hopeful as he was today. He'd always assumed that Jack had been some kind of soldier, and from the sound of it, that's what he had been at the Time Agency.

Whilst the thought of Jack being effectively a hired killer made Ianto's stomach turn, he also knew that his Jack would do anything to save someone. He'd died himself to save the entire world when no one would know what had happened except his team and he'd gone through hell for a year to make sure the world could be saved _again_, even when everyone but those aboard the Valiant remembered it.

With a curt nod to himself, he decided that Jack was right. He wasn't that man anymore. Now, Captain Jack Harkness was a loyal and dependable boss, friend and lover – Ianto was completely sure of that.

"Eye-Candy!" John's muffled voice yelled at him through the intercom. Ianto's teeth instinctively ground together again. He really didn't like that nickname, especially not from someone he didn't even know – if it had been Jack, he would probably have been able to live with it. "Eye-Candy, I'm starving!"

Ianto took a few steadying breaths and headed back to Jack's office, clearing his throat and jogging the other man out of his thoughts for the second time that evening. Jack looked up sheepishly, having already heard John's yells of disapproval.

"I'm going to order the Chinese, you get him out of that cell." Ianto all but glared at the other man. Jack nodded and pushed himself up, heading over to Ianto and pulling him closer, kissing him gently and enjoying the taste of the young man's lips, memorising the feel of his skin before pulling away and heading down to the cells reluctantly.

John would have one hour to eat and stretch his legs before he found himself back behind the reinforced glass partition.


	7. Chapter 6A

I know this part's short, so I'll post 6B as well, to keep you guys happy (cos that's all that matters really ;)) - hope you like them!

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Chapter 6A

"Oh, how sweet! You've gone all traditional on me." John grinned as Ianto dropped the bag of Chinese take out in the centre of the table, dropping into the seat next to Jack, John sitting opposite them. Without saying anything, Ianto pulled a carton towards himself and began eating.

The other two took this as their signal and Jack snatched a tub of noodles before piling prawn crackers and spring rolls on the lid, staking his claim. John dithered for a while but resolved to try some from each of the remaining boxes, seeing as genuine Chinese food was all but extinct for him.

"So, seven of you left, huh?" Jack said after swallowing his first mouthful. He wanted to know what had happened to his old colleagues.

"Yup. Three other teams managed to get away, they'd heard the news and time jumped." John's face was suddenly serious as he regarded his food. "I was on my own, brooding in the Vegas galaxies, when I heard. I did the same as everyone else – skipped backward a few decades."

"What happened there?" Jack asked quietly, watching the other man intently.

"Apparently, the Time Agency wasn't supposed to be how it was for us. It wasn't supposed to hand out death sentences at the drop of a hat." John snorted slightly as if he found that a highly ridiculous concept. "One day, after a few teams were sent to investigate a massive time spike, this guy turns up at head quarters – livid as hell. He storms through security and up to the main office and finds the Head taking an under the table offer to sort something out."

"Seriously?" Jack's eyebrows shot up in surprise – though now that he thought about it, that wasn't as surprising as it should've been.

"Seriously." There was silence for a moment as they all continued eating. Ianto was feeling distinctly uncomfortable in the conversation and was currently trying to think of a way to excuse himself that wouldn't alert Jack to his feelings. "All I know is that after this guy pointed that out, the Agency was shut down. No one tried to rebuild it, they decided it would be too prone to the same things happening all over again."

"Almost a century of work and it collapses because of some man." Jack shook his head sadly and poked through his food for a moment. "Did you find out who the guy was?"

"Not really. The rumours varied, but most said he was in a suit, with a long coat on and wearing glasses." John shrugged and stuffed a prawn cracker in his mouth, leaning back with his hands behind his head. He didn't seem to notice the sudden tension that flooded Jack's body and the look Ianto was giving him.

"Brown hair? English?" Jack asked quietly, John nodding casually. "Was he wearing red sneakers?"

"Yeah, I think so." John shrugged and looked around the room, taking interest in the scanners and monitors that were used occasionally. Jack was now looking at Ianto, but the young man was looking stubbornly at his food again. He'd barely eaten any. "What's it to you anyway?"

"Oh, just an old friend." Jack said with a wry smile, the mysterious expression on his face making John a little annoyed.

"The same kind of friend who got us into trouble on Taladon Five?" John leaned forwards and laced his voice with something similar to seduction. Jack just laughed.

"In some ways." He wiggled his eyebrows and John laughed in return. "But infinitely more attractive."

"Is that even possible?" John asked, slightly in awe and more than a little impressed.

"Trust me, that satyr wasn't nearly as gorgeous as she thought she was – definitely not the prettiest in the galaxy." Jack grinned again and winked at John, lowering his voice a little for his last sentence. "I have proof sitting right next to me."

John snorted again and rolled his eyes, pulling the next carton towards him to start eating. Jack turned to Ianto, still grinning and saw the look on the young man's face. The grin instantly started to fall away and he reached out to grip Ianto's hand, squeezing it gently in reassurance. Ianto stayed perfectly still, but picked his fork up again and made a convincing show of eating his dinner.

He was suddenly feeling like he was some sort of ornament, some piece of bric-a-brac that proved to John how good Jack's current life was. He felt more than a little childish to be sitting at the table and politely watching the conversations take place.

_I thought one ex was bad enough, but the Doctor just had to turn up… Mind you, it's not surprising and from the sound of it, he did the future a huge service._ Ianto thought silently, a small smile pulling at his lips as he realised that he could quite easily like the man.

It went on the same way for a while, the two men exchanging stories, practically unaware of Ianto sitting right beside them.


	8. Chapter 6B

Chapter 6B

At one point, Ianto wondered whether he could just leave, whether Jack would even notice. Then he realised that there was no way Jack could fail to miss his exit and it would probably distract him from John, giving the man a chance to slip away from them. John would also simply take the fact that Ianto left and run with it, using it against them both. He wouldn't betray Jack like that and he wouldn't give John any ammunition.

However, by the time he'd finished his fried rice, Ianto was consciously trying not to throw a tantrum. The two had moved on to reminiscing about old times – old trips they'd taken together, old acquaintances, places they both still wanted to see. Ianto felt decidedly out of place and finally pushed himself to his feet.

"I'm going to go make a coffee." He muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. It was then that he remembered his stopwatch and pulled it out. "You have about four more minutes left, sir."

Ianto smiled to himself as Jack nodded and he moved from the room. As he worked the coffee machine and the four minutes passed by, his smile started to slip. Jack hadn't left the boardroom yet, which meant that he was still sitting in there and talking to John. Ianto sighed heavily and took Jack's coffee back through to him.

"You remember Karina?" John was muttering, half angry, half impressed at Jack's complete lack of enthusiasm for his old life. Ianto slowed as he approached the half open door.

"Vaguely, why?" Jack was leaning back in his chair, a look of annoyance on his face, his expression dark and his voice defensive. Without Ianto sitting next to him, he felt surprisingly vulnerable. Outside, Ianto pressed his back against the wall, tucking himself into the shadows behind a mass of pipes running from the floor to the ceiling.

"Well, after you disappeared, I saw her again. She was looking all over for you, just like you when you lost Grey." John raised an eyebrow, but Jack just scowled.

"Don't you dare bring him into this." He hissed in reply, looking moodily off to one side. "I had no control over any of it, so don't even think about blaming me."

"What happened to you?" John asked insistently, suddenly sincere with a hint of pleading in his voice. Ianto stood in the shadows outside the door and listened for Jack's reply, glad that neither of them had noticed him yet.

"I don't know!" Jack finally growled, slamming his fist down on the table. "I woke up one day and I'd lost two years of my memories – my life."

Realisation dawned across John's face and he settled into a smug grin. Jack glared at him, leaning in automatically, but not enough for John to be able to whisper. Part of Jack was dying to find out what had happened in the two years he no longer had, but another part was screaming at him to leave the situation alone, that it wasn't worth it.

Whatever he'd done could jeopardise everything he'd built for himself, everything in his life in the here and now. It could mean Ianto leaving him for good and the very thought turned Jack's stomach. With another growl, he pushed himself up and walked a few paces away.

"I don't want to know." He said with an angry sigh, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Are you sure about that?" John crooned softly, getting up from his own seat and walking slowly around the table to stand behind Jack. He was extremely close to the other man and Jack was fully aware of it. His entire body was coiled up with tension that he didn't know quite how to let out.

After several tense moments, for all three of them, Jack stepped forwards and turned around, clamping his hand onto John's shoulder, directing him out of the room with his jaw clenched. Ianto stayed silently in the shadows, so Jack had no idea he'd heard the conversation.

Ianto held his breath as he listened to the bickering that followed the two Time Agents through the Hub and once he'd heard the door close, he moved, exhaling slowly. He frowned slightly and walked into the boardroom and looked around at the mess they'd managed to make, his mind fixed on other things.

Whilst he waited, Ianto put Jack's coffee down and started to tidy up, piling the cartons up for the fridge and stuffing the empty and dirty items into a plastic bag, looping a knot in the top and dropping it back on the surface.

All he wanted at that very moment was to go home, to curl up in bed and forget about what had happened over the last few hours. He knew, before he even considered the option, that Jack would be staying in the Hub until their 'visitor' had gone home – and Ianto really didn't want either of them to be alone. He could already see how much stress Jack was under from John's arrival.

"You don't need to do that now, do you?" A voice asked with a hint of disapproval. Ianto turned round, coffee in hand again, to face Jack, offering the mug which was accepted without a moment's hesitation.

"If you don't want to find stagnant food tomorrow morning, then yeah, I do." Ianto replied, turning back to collect the remains of the food and carrying them through to the kitchen area, Jack following with his coffee. "Do you need to stay here tonight?"

"Do _you_ want to leave him alone in the Hub?" Jack asked incredulously, eyebrows raised as he leaned back against the counter next to Ianto.

"Nope." Ianto sighed and went back to get the rubbish from the boardroom. After a moment, Jack put his coffee cup in the sink and followed. Jack watched for a few minutes as Ianto moved methodically through the room, tidying up after the three of them. By the time he walked back over to the door, the room was spotless.

"Will you stay with me?" Jack asked tentatively, catching Ianto around the wrist before he could walk away. Ianto looked down at the floor for a long moment before sighing lightly.

"Of course I will, Jack." He looked up and smiled, a little wearily, and kissed Jack gently before walking away again.

Jack didn't follow him this time. Instead, he watched Ianto move away and work his way through the main area of the Hub. Ianto wasn't comfortable with John, that much at least was obvious. Jack had never expected Ianto to like him, hell, _he_ didn't even like John anymore.

But then again, it _had_ been nice to reminisce about the old times.


	9. Chapter 7

I quite like this chapter :) I enjoy exploring Jack's past, and I really get to do it in this story.. if I remember correctly, you'll be getting several insights in here. I hope you enjoy it! The song lyrics are finally back too :P

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Chapter 7

_**And you should have told me when you met me  
**__**All these things I should know  
**__**I should have asked, we should have talked  
**__**About this so long ago**_

It wasn't until Jack was lying back in bed that he realised there was something wrong with Ianto. He'd thought that the young man's change in persona was down to John's presence, but now they were alone and he was still out of character.

Ianto was curled up, head against Jack's chest as he lay quietly, eyes closed and feigning sleep. Jack wasn't fooled for one moment. During Ianto's suspension for the Lisa incident, Jack had ended up spending most nights at the young man's flat, to make sure that he kept himself alive. He'd soon learned the difference between real sleep and faked sleep.

Right now, there was still tension in his muscles and his breathing and heart rate were just that little bit too fast. With a sigh, Jack pressed a kiss to the top of his head and then tilted his chin up to make Ianto look at him.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked bluntly, his voice calm. Ianto frowned slightly and let himself struggle against the urge to jump out of bed and leave the bunker, before suppressing it completely.

"Nothing." He replied stubbornly, twisting around in Jack's arms so he was facing the wall instead of his lover.

"I know I'm not the most attentive person in the world, but even _I_ noticed that you aren't yourself." Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto, pulling him a little closer. He was glad to feel Ianto lean back into him a little.

Jack leaned his head forwards and closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of Ianto's hair as he waited for Ianto to say something. He didn't pay attention to how long passed whilst they lay there, all he knew was that Ianto still hadn't pushed him away.

"The person you two talk about, the adventures – everything. I don't know anything about it, Jack. The man in those stories is a stranger to me." Ianto murmured gently. Jack almost started, having thought that Ianto might have started to fall asleep. He bit back a sigh and pulled the young man closer. He knew Ianto hadn't been happy since the hologram first appeared and silently cursed himself for not paying closer attention to his lover's discomfort.

"I know, Ianto, and I'm sorry." Jack twisted his head around to kiss his neck gently. "It's been a long time since I've felt anything other than shame and disgust about my past."

"What do you feel now?" Ianto asked tentatively, his voice filled with curiosity. Jack had been prepared, the moment the words had slipped from his mouth, to be faced with anger. He was pleasantly surprised by Ianto's tone.

"I don't know. Vaguely nostalgic, a little homesick." Jack sighed and buried his nose into Ianto's neck again, humming contentedly. Ianto smiled and twisted back around to face him.

"Homesick for your childhood or homesick for the Time Agency?" He asked gently, placing slow, seductive kisses along Jack's jaw line and neck. Jack had to concentrate very hard on keeping his focus on the question at hand.

"A little of both I guess." He ran his hands absently over Ianto's back, feeling a sense of calm coming from the connection between their skin. He sighed and carried on. "Mostly, I miss my mother. It was just us when I left home. We didn't talk much towards the end – I guess I regret that."

Ianto pulled back a little and looked at Jack seriously, his hands resting gently on either side of the older man's face. He watched for a moment before leaning in and kissing Jack slowly, hoping to ease a little of the pain he was obviously feeling.

As much as he'd wanted to ask who Grey and Karina were, John's cryptic words hadn't been quite enough to make him interrogate his lover. Jack would tell him in all due time. At least, that's what he was hoping would happen. He felt Jack pull away from the kiss gently and heard him sigh again.

Ianto lay his head back down on the pillow and watched Jack for a moment before a question bubbled into his mind. He wanted to ask, but out of curiosity more than distrust or bitterness. He knew Jack too well to think that he could directly affect Jack's decisions. They may be lovers, partners… _together_, but that in no way meant that they controlled each other's lives any more strongly than considering the other's feelings when making a decision.

With a smile, he asked Jack his question, watching his expression the entire time.

"Would you go back? If you could?" Ianto asked, tracing his fingers gently over Jack's features, watching them as they ran across his lips.

"Why? Would you miss me?" Jack asked teasingly. Ianto smiled as he saw Jack's lips quirk up into a grin, his voice layered with the playful quality that made Jack so full of energy.

"Yep." Ianto said in reply, turning his eyes upwards to look at Jack intently, their eyes meeting in an intoxicating gaze. Jack was silent for a moment as his expression flickered back to a pensive half frown.

"Going home wouldn't change anything." He said finally, chewing lightly on the inside of his cheek as he spoke, turning his head a little further into the pillow. "If I hadn't left home, I wouldn't have met the Doctor and I wouldn't have ended up here. Sure, I miss my family, but I wouldn't change _this_ for the world…"

Trailing off, Jack pulled his head up a little to look at Ianto again, the young man regarding him with a slightly strange expression, almost one of pity. After a moment, Ianto leaned up and kissed him very lightly but before he could pull away, Jack pulled him flush to him once more and captured his lips again, determined to show him just how much he wanted this life he had now.


	10. Chapter 8

Hey! Sorry about the irregular posting :( I'm going to make a conscious effort to do at least three updates a week - this fic's about halfway through now, but there's one more full length sequel and a little three parter to round off the whole series. I hope you enjoy it!

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Chapter 8

**_It's not fair, it's not fair  
And don't leave me here  
_****_How's this happening to me  
It feels so lonely here_**

_Ianto was sitting in the middle of a grassy verge, overlooking the beach and the sea. Wind was whipping at his hair and his clothes – the battered t-shirt and pyjama trousers that he wore when he was alone or pissed off at Jack. As far as he could remember, he hadn't been wearing them a minute ago._

_He glanced around himself to see if there was anyone else, but the beach was completely deserted. He could see a trail of footprints however, passing across the sand right in front of him, stretching from side to side, as far as he could see. There had been someone there recently. He deliberated for a moment as to whether he should follow them in either direction, but felt the strong sensation that he'd get lost after only a few steps._

_Something sparkled on the horizon and Ianto looked up sharply, squinting at it, drawing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them in a vain attempt to protect himself. He watched as the glittering object drew closer at a steady pace, the bright sunlight glinting off it in a slightly hypnotic manner. He didn't recognise the shape, but it seemed to be made from some sort of polished metal, perhaps encrusted with jewels of some sort._

_It continued to glide towards him and Ianto stood up to meet it, stepping towards the edge of the grass bank, an arm stretching out to meet the object hurtling towards him, the sun flashes almost blinding him now. It was so close, so close to his fingers. He could almost reach it, almost touch it._

_He stretched out that little bit further and the wind continued to clutch at him, trying to drag him over the edge. He lost his balance in the gale, his foot coming out instinctively to stop him falling. With a knot of adrenaline bursting open in his stomach, the grass and sand disappeared and he started to fall …_

Ianto jolted awake, his eyes snapping open as he tried to suppress the queasy feeling in his stomach. He hated those kinds of dreams, the ones that made you think you were about to fall, only to have consciousness hit you instead of whatever surface you were heading towards.

He groaned and rolled onto his back, rubbing his eyes, waiting for the reprimand for rolling into Jack but none came. He propped himself up on his elbows and blinked, looking around the room in confusion. The remains of the dream still hadn't left him and he could see the metallic object hazily, as if through a heavy veil.

He had no idea what it could've been and he seriously doubted that it meant anything. However, the vividness of the vision had startled him a little. Thinking carefully about it, he realised that he had been sitting on the beach he'd visualised as Jack had talked to him a little about his childhood home of the Boeshane Peninsular.

The same feeling of intrigue and dread had lined his stomach as it had whilst Jack had spoken. However much the beach was familiar though, the sprawling, cubic city Jack had tried to describe hadn't taken root in his mind, so hadn't turned up in the dream.

He rubbed his eyes briefly before opening them again and looking around with a much clearer head. He was in Jack's bunker, lying alone, no sign of Jack anywhere. He listened for a moment to try and hear Jack's movements in the adjoining bathroom or in the office above, but none came. He could feel his heart thudding heavily in his chest, the beginnings of panic rising up.

Squeezing his eyes closed, Ianto took several deep breaths and calmed himself down. He took a quick shower, got dressed and within ten minutes, he was heading through the Hub to try and work out where Jack could be.

His first thought was to check the CCTV. He found that John's cell was empty and the door was closed. When he checked the sensors and keypad on the door, he realised that it hadn't been forced. The correct code had been punched in, no mistakes or incorrect attempts registered.

Next, Ianto checked the stash of John weapons, finding every single item still there – he checked them off against the inventory list Gwen had compiled as soon as they'd been removed from the man. The only option Ianto could now see was that Jack had let him out and taken him somewhere – that or John had somehow hacked through the door code without any equipment and taken Jack hostage without any of his weapons.

Ianto had an extremely strong feeling that the first explanation was the real one. With a sigh, he headed back to the kitchen area and made himself a coffee. Carrying it through to Jack's office, he figured he'd start cleaning up the captain's desk, seeing as it had fallen into it's usual state of disarray.

He put his mug on the sideboard and turned to gather together the files and reports, making two neat piles. As he leant forwards to take the outgoing post, Ianto notice a folded piece of paper with his name on it in Jack's casual handwriting.

Ianto felt a stab of his previous wave of panic as he picked the paper up and flicked it open, scanning the contents briefly before going back to read it again thoroughly.

**Ianto.**

**One of the creatures was picked up by the sensors at about 3:30 this morning. I thought that John should see what was going on, a vain attempt to make him see what he's done, I know. I really didn't want to wake you up, you needed the sleep.**

**I'll be back at around lunchtime, please don't worry.**

**J x**

Ianto sighed and folded the paper once more, slotting it into the inner pocket of his jacket. He swallowed against the lump that was rising in his throat, but the feeling wasn't physical. There was a strange war of sadness, desolation and annoyance fighting inside him, but the logical, collected part of his mind simply squashed it, as it always did.

All he could think was how, after only three days and some old flame's appearance, all they'd fought for together, everything they'd tried to build up in the wake of Tom's dramatic exit, was in danger of collapsing from something as simple as jealousy.

Ianto shook his head, his face starting to heat up a little from the shame of the thought. There was no way he was going to lose this over something as petty as Jack going hunting with John Hart. Gritting his teeth, Ianto flexed his fingers briefly before stepping out of Jack's office stiffly and carrying on the scan for more of the creatures.


	11. Chapter 9

I personally love this chapter... Dunno why, but I really, really like it! I think I spent he first half of the story kinda forcing it, but at about this point, I was hit by a sudden surge of inspiration and I wrote the rest of the fic for an afternoon solidly.... after several days of slogging through the firstpart of the story.

Anyway, I hope you notice the difference in the way the story flows a little better! This is for everyone who may have had a crap day like me.

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Chapter 9

_**We are in a mess, a danger zone  
**__**What will happen next, you never know**_

Jack was trudging through a construction site on the edge of the city, John a few steps in front of him. He was cold and annoyed and he wanted to get back to the Hub and to Ianto. He'd deliberated for a while about waking him up, but it seemed to be the best option to just leave him sleeping.

"Any sign of it yet?" He asked John, watching the other man picking his way through to the back of a half demolished room.

"I think it's headed here. They like the dark, I seem to remember." John gestured to the large footprints that showed slightly on the dusty floor. He sighed heavily and spun on his heel to face Jack. "Do we really have to do this?"

"That's a bit of a dumb question there." Jack said with a laugh. "You let them out, you round them up. I see no reason to get my team any more involved than they need to be."

John sighed again and headed through the door at the back of the ruined building, finding himself in a staircase. He grinned briefly to himself as an idea sprung to mind before he started to climb, calling out, "I think it went this way."

Jack stepped through the door and looked up dubiously, watching John pick his way up the dusty, debris-ridden staircase. He glanced down the long room, into the shaded, hidden area on the other side and hesitated for a moment. There was no way that the creature would've climbed the stairs instead of hiding in the dark, basement reaches of the building. That species wasn't built for heights, that much he was certain of.

_What the hell have I got myself into?_ Jack thought with a silent groan of annoyance. _Why the hell didn't I just stay in bed with Ianto? God, I wish I was back with him…_ With a sigh, he pushed all thoughts of Ianto out of his head for the moment and looked back up towards the top of the staircase. He shook his head and lowered his eyes and he gritted his teeth.

Wearily, he pulled out his Webley and gripped it in his hand before he slowly followed John up the staircase. This seemed like a classic thing he would do and Jack was on his guard, his senses honed to the point of flinching as a pebble fell through the centre of the winding stairs, kicked off by John, several flights above him.

He tried to keep an eye on John, but the bright winter sun meant that the visibility was almost non existent, the dust motes in the golden stream of light clogging up his vision like he was squinting through a particularly thick fog.

When he emerged on the half demolished roof of the tower, perhaps seven stories up, Jack saw John standing on the edge of the building, gazing out at the city below. Jack glanced at his watch and found that they'd been trailing around all morning and well into the afternoon, without so much as a call in to the Hub to check up on the team. He grimaced slightly and made a mental note that Ianto was entitled to be as pissed off as he wanted.

Jack bit back a sigh and took a step away from the staircase, watching John intently. He was keen to find out just what he was up to now, John having lead him on a wild goose chase for almost twelve hours. Silently, he was fuming at having been tricked like that.

"I would appreciate an explanation." Jack said icily, watching John with a deadpan face as he turned around, hands in pockets, and watched him speculatively. "What do you want?"

"What I want, is for you to come to your senses. Join me, Jack. Back in the old routine. We'd be emperors. How can you stay tied to one planet when there's thousands of worlds, sparkling with wonder?" John exclaimed, throwing his hands up, almost in defeat, his tone exasperated. "We should be up there, among the stars, claiming them for our own. Just like before."

"I can't." Jack said, looking away. He didn't want to get into this conversation, it would only end badly. John stepped back across the roof a few paces, his eyes fixed on Jack's face.

"Why not? What the hell is there to keep you here?" John growled, walking up to Jack and standing right in front of him. "Come on… The glitter of the galaxy, the mischief we could make!"

Jack turned to look back at him, studying his expression, the look in his eyes. He was struck by the fact that John obviously believed everything he was saying. He almost laughed in his face, but something told him that would be incredibly unwise.

"You know, you never really mastered that temptation spiel." Jack said with a smirk as he walked past him and headed towards the edge of the roof, looking out over the familiar buildings of Cardiff, though from a completely new angle.

"It's not a spiel. It's fact." John said acidly, his teeth grinding together a little. Jack looked over his shoulder, saw the glower on John's face and turned back round to look at him once more.

"Move on." He hissed, the annoyance and anger starting to emerge a little, despite himself. "Here I am, in a new life and you're still churning out the same old tunes. And sorry, but they don't play as well, now you're looking a little older… And what are they, wrinkles around your eyes?"

"Laugh lines!" John snarled in reply, fist clenched and his body hunched as if preparing to lunge forward in an attack.

"Oh, hell of a good joke!" Jack laughed, goding John and winding him up, all tact and wisdom thrown away in a bid to rile the other man up as much as possible.

"It's you I'm laughing at." He yelled, no trace of amusement in his voice at all as he stepped forwards slowly. "This pretty little world seems to have dulled senses, Jack. It's like you're comatose and settling for this when you could have so much more. I pity you, Jack, I really do."

"Well that's odd, because I'm feeling pretty sorry for you as well." Jack snapped back in return. He barely had time to brace himself as John lunged at him with a snarl of anger, pinning him back on the ground, his head and shoulders sticking out of the edge. Whilst it was an unpleasant sensation, Jack wasn't unduly worried, something which John didn't seem to pick up on.

"I gave you so many chances, Jack. I was so patient with you. Now, once again, I have your life in my hands." He hissed, their faces only an inch or so apart. He wound his fingers into the lapels of Jack's coat and pushed him a little further over the edge. "One wrong move and you could be splayed out on the ground, every bone in your body broken and your insides bleeding."

There was a click from behind John and he froze in place, his eyes focused on Jack's, his expression a mixture of fear and annoyance.


	12. Chapter 10

I _reeeeeeaally_ like this chapter, I dunno why. I just read it through and I really liked it :) I hope you do to!

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Chapter 10

Ianto had spent the morning filling in reports and filing away everyone's paper work, making coffees and ordering in lunch in between times. He didn't begin to get worried about Jack until early afternoon. It wasn't like Jack to be later than he said he'd be without phoning in or leaving some kind of message. Ianto hadn't heard from him all morning.

With a sigh, he'd spent the next few hours constantly checking the clock and his mobile until, at around four, he'd called up the SUV's location from the tracker and found it parked on the outer edges of the city, near the docks at a construction site.

With no more than a yell of 'I'll be back later' to Gwen, Ianto collected his coat and left the Hub. It wouldn't take long to walk there, and the SUV had been stationary for about five minutes, so the chances were that he'd be able to get there whilst Jack was still looking around.

He walked as fast as he could through the city, his mind wandering to what might be going on. He knew Jack would most likely be annoyed with him for checking up on the mission, but at this point, Ianto didn't care. He was tired of contemplating, tired of Jack being somewhere strange with a man who'd already proved himself to be untrustworthy.

It took him a little over fifteen minutes to find the site, but once he saw the SUV, he headed into the abandoned, half torn down building. He pulled his gun out and walked carefully into the ruins, looking around for footprints.

He found two sets winding lazily around the space until they both headed off through the door on the other side of the room. He too went over to the door and glanced up the dust ridden stairwell, unable to see beyond the first flight. With a growl of frustration, he started up them, following the footprints and reasoning that their owners would still be on the other end.

As he climbed, he knew for sure that John must have an ulterior motive, as he'd been researching the creatures. He knew that they lived in caves – dark and underground. He seriously doubted that what was seeming to be the roof of the building was the creature's taste in living quarters.

He'd climbed about five stories and was beginning to wonder how much further he'd have to go when he heard raised voices above him.

"Join me, Jack. Back in the old routine. We'd be emperors." It was John, his voice sounding a little desperate. So that was it. John was just trying to get Jack to go with him. After their conversation in bed last night, Ianto had no doubt that Jack was just as amused by this as he was. There were more murmurs and snarls as the conversation evolved into an argument.

"Laugh lines!" Ianto almost snorted at that one, imagining the look on John's face. From what he could tell, the man was just as vain as Jack was – and Jack had been known to shoot himself just to heal a series of disfiguring gashes down the side of his face. The ultimate ammunition.

"Oh, hell of a good joke!" It was Jack this time, but despite the cocky and self assured tone, Ianto knew there was something else beneath it, but he couldn't tell what. He picked up his pace and was almost at the door out onto the roof when the voices gave way to the sound on someone being knocked heavily to the floor.

As he walked out into the sunshine, gun raised, he saw the two men sprawled on the edge of the roof, John kneeling over Jack, his hands wound into Jack's coat as he asserted his dominance. He murmured something and pushed Jack a little more, his body inching out over the edge of the roof.

Ianto silently walked towards them, neither man aware of his presence as he came to a stop, only a few feet behind them, waiting for John to say something else or make another move.

"One wrong move and you could be splayed out on the ground, every bone in your body broken and your insides bleeding." John leered at the man below him, his voice filled with satisfaction and mockery.

That made Ianto snap. He raised his gun and pressed the barrel to the bottom of John's skull, releasing the safety all in one smooth action. He saw John's entire frame freeze and felt a small thrill of satisfaction before he spoke.

"One wrong move from _you_ and there's a bullet severing your brain stem." He said coolly, and he noted that Jack gave him a thumbs up from where his hands were lying on either side of his body. He smiled briefly before turning his attention back to John. He pressed the gun into John's head a little harder and the man slowly backed to one side, releasing Jack from his grip.

As soon as there was enough room, Jack rolled to one side and pulled himself up, brushing the dust off his coat as he smiled gratefully at Ianto. He found, however, that Ianto was glaring at the back of John's head again, his gun still firmly attached to its target. Jack put his hand on the young man's arm and Ianto looked up, raising an eyebrow as he allowed Jack to gently push his hand and the gun back down to his side.

"Okay, John." Jack said, looking seriously at the man sitting on the floor and glaring up at him, his plans once again thwarted. "You've wasted enough of our time. If we don't find any more legitimate locations by the end of tomorrow, you're taking the next Rift spike back home. We'll send them back through if we ever find them."

"You're no fun." He muttered as he stood up, heading back to the entrance to the stairwell. Ianto headed off as well, but Jack caught him round the wrist and turned him, opening his mouth to speak.

"Next time, sir, wake me up before you disappear." Ianto said, cutting him off with a small smile before pulling away and heading off after John, making sure that he didn't make a break for it. Jack stayed back for a couple of moments longer, a look of chagrin on his face.


	13. Chapter 11A

I'm back again! AND OH HELL! My profile on here was nominated for **favourite author** in the **Children of Time Awards** and I would LOVE to know who did it so I could say a personal thanks :) (so psyched just to get nominated)

As for the story, I promise to post 11B tomorrow, if not later on tonight. Enjoy!

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****Chapter 11A**

_**Now we share the closet, now you've let me come inside  
**__**And now you're finally undressing, and I feel like I might die**_

The rest of the afternoon had carried on in a pretty mundane fashion. John was taken straight down to his cell, where he spent the rest of the time moaning and chattering about nothing in particular, to the point where Jack left his office to mute the feed coming from one of Tosh's computers.

The scans for the alien life forms continued, but they got nothing more than a weevil hunt, which Jack and Ianto dealt with. They'd been pretty fast at rounding it up, though Ianto had taken a pretty nasty slash to his stomach, needing Owen to stitch it up. Jack had attempted to ease the annoyance and pain, but Ianto had simply played it down.

He'd been planning to stay in the Hub with Jack again, but after the afternoon he'd had, he really needed to go and curl up in his own bed or to watch TV on his sofa. He needed the normality that his small flat gave to him. Whilst Jack was a little hurt by the decision, he fully understood it. He also understood that Ianto must've still been feeling a little hurt by the abandonment when he'd woken up.

Ianto went straight home after Owen had finished with him and made himself a cup of coffee, changing into his pyjamas carefully as the kettle boiled. Once he had his drink, he placed it on the coffee table and threw himself onto his sofa, flicking the television onto whatever channel it happened to turn to. He closed his eyes and lay still for a while, letting the sounds of the canned laughter and slightly funny lines wash over him.

He was just drifting off to sleep, an hour or so later, when a soft knocking came from his front door. With a groan, he slowly pushed himself up and padded across the room and yawned, scowling slightly at the interruption. When he opened the door, he was both unsurprised yet pleased to find Jack there, though it served him some amount of worry as well.

"Who's watching him?" He asked carefully as Jack leant on the doorframe, looking at him with a rather innocent yet appealing expression on his face.

"Tosh and Gwen said they'd take tonight. I swear, those girls love you to pieces." Jack grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. Ianto chuckled softly and pulled him gently inside the flat by the front of his shirt, closing the door behind them as he headed back over to the sofa.

Jack was careful to leave his coat and boots tidily before he headed over to the sofa as well, sitting down next to Ianto and pulling him into a careful hug. After a moment, Ianto twisted around and swung his legs over Jack's, resting his head back against the other man's chest, lying across him in a half curled position that was kindest on the wound across his stomach.

"I'm sorry." Jack murmured, his arms wrapped tightly around Ianto's waist.

"What for?" Ianto asked a little distractedly, seeing as he was now watching the Friends rerun on the TV.

"For this morning, for this afternoon, for this evening… most of the day really." Jack laughed sadly and rested his chin on Ianto's head. The young man frowned slightly and looked up, sensing a shift in Jack's mood from earlier in the day.

"What's wrong?" He asked careful, reaching up to touch the side of his face gently.

"What makes you think there's something wrong?" Jack asked, amused.

"You only apologise like that when you've done something wrong or, more precisely, you've done something to piss me off." Ianto raised an eyebrow. "And for some reason, I'm not particularly pissed off with you."

"You're slightly scary with your personality analysis, Ianto." Jack said wearily, a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I know." Ianto patted his cheek patronisingly and pulled it down, his arm curling into his chest. "So, what's bothering you?"

"It doesn't matter." Jack whispered, looking away from Ianto and up to the TV. Ianto frowned slightly and watched for a few moments before turning his attention back to the comedy as well. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Ianto finally decided that Jack needed to talk, even if he didn't think he did.

"That's it, Jack. I've had enough." He pushed himself up and away from the other man, sitting back on the other side of the sofa and looking at him intently, legs crossed and sitting sideways so he could watch him completely. "You keep trying to hide things from me, but you're failing. Horribly. I thought we'd been through this…"

The hurt in his voice was tangible and Jack mentally cringed from it. Ianto was right, of course he was. Jack had said he'd share things with him, promised him on many different occasions, but he still couldn't keep to his word. He still felt the need to hide himself away.

It was a very strange feeling to know with your entire being that there was someone you could open up to, but to be unable to do it. He knew that Ianto wouldn't turn him away or leave him, so why couldn't he trust that fact? He sighed in exasperation and leaned forwards, rubbing his face lightly.

"Okay, you're right." Jack mumbled, looking down at the floor. "When I said this whole thing was making me homesick, it was making me think of much worse things instead. It was making me think of my brother's disappearance."

Ianto's eyes widened a little in shock, his heart picking up pace and thudding against his ribs, but he fixed his gaze on Jack carefully. He saw the look of anguish on his lover's face and he wanted nothing more than to comfort him. _Later…_ he thought gently, reaching out a hand to clasp Jack's, waiting for him to begin.


	14. Chapter 11B

Heeeey, hope you like it! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, exploring Jack's background a bit.. hope you all enjoy it!

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**Chapter 11B**

Jack sighed heavily as he gave Ianto's hand a slight squeeze before pushing himself up, starting to pace the room. His hands were wringing together absently as he thought about what he was about to do. He could see a huge sign flashing 'No Way Back' at him if he chose to tell Ianto about his brother and the consequences of that disastrous day.

_You already decided you were going to spend as much time with him as you could, so why bottle this up? There's nothing to lose…_ his mind whispered to him as he came to a halt, staring out of the large window that overlooked the city, the orange streetlamps glittering below.

"I told you last night about my home, in part. I told you about my parents and my teenage years, but not my childhood." Jack began, fighting off the almost debilitating bout of guilt and grief that rose up at the newly released memory of Grey. "It was just a normal day when they came. My father told me to run with Grey and to just keep running. At some point, I don't remember when, he wasn't there anymore. I must've let go of his hand… I must've let go."

Jack senses were bombarded with the scents and sounds of the event, the feeling of sand scraping along the palms of his hands as he tripped all those times as he raced back home, only for the numbness to take over when his father didn't wake up. The way his mother shook him roughly as she desperately tried to find out what happened to Grey had almost broken Jack at the time.

"I started searching for him. I spent years travelling as much as I could without a job or any means of transport, looking for any hint of him." Jack was biting his lips, hypnotised by the colours through the glass, glowing in the darkness. "Four years later, when I was sixteen, I joined the Time Agency – partly to have more resources, partly because I couldn't stand to face my mother every time I came home empty handed. We were left broken the day of the attack. It never went back and I'd had enough of hurting her."

… _Jack opened the door and trudged through, out of the sandstorm and into the small entry hall. As he pulled the goggles and scarf from his face, his mother hurried towards him, hope glittering in her eyes for a painful moment before reality crashed down on her yet again and she realised that nothing had changed. _

"_I really thought this time…" She started to say, her face crumpling under the loss and agony or her realisation. All Jack could do was watch as she shuffled back through the doorway she'd emerged from, her frame hunched as if a great weight was on her shoulders. It broke his heart for the final time. _

_He'd been gone for three months this time, travelling across the continent after a rumour that a group of hostages had been found from a raid years ago. He'd raced for as long and as fast as he could to get there, but the frail hope his mother harboured hadn't been with him. There were only so many times you could travel around one planet. _

_He needed to get away, travel worlds, seek out other possible places, perhaps find out more about the race that had kidnapped Grey. With a heavy sigh, he made he was through to his bedroom and dumped his pack on his bed, glancing around the almost barren room – he'd stripped it of practically everything that was personal. He'd needed to forget his attachment to his home if he had any chance of reaching his brother. _

_He could never have spent the last year searching if his home had any sort of comfort. The rest of the house had long since lost its appeal – the signs and memories of his father and brother everywhere. He thought it miraculous that his mother could stand to remain in the same house, but he'd never suggested leaving. All he'd had was his bedroom, his safe haven, and now that was nothing more than a series of sandy coloured walls and a few sturdy pieces of furniture._

_A flyer pinned to his notice board caught his eye. It was for the Time Agency. The one thing he needed to extend his search was resources. If the Time Agency didn't have resources, then who did? _

_The next day, before his mother was even awake, Jack left home, leaving nothing more than a note of apology and a promise not to return without Grey. He'd never seen his mother again_ …

"I spent the next ten years doing as much research and investigation as I could." Jack finally managed to say bitterly. "The only good thing that came from it was a heightened knowledge of different alien cultures, technology and planets. One day, I just gave up. I started drinking and having sex to stop myself from wallowing in self pity. I closed off completely and lost almost all my emotions but the basics needed for the Time Agency – a robot in every way but physically, just what they wanted from me."

Jack clenched his jaw and shook his head, eyes closing in shame at the memories of his past, now that he recalled all the worst points.

"I got careless, cavalier. I could do things without the rules because I didn't care. I killed first, asked questions later, rarely showed remorse and frequently endangered colleagues for the sake of the mission. Money was all I cared about." Jack's voice broke towards the end, his teeth clenching once more in a vain attempt to stop the tears from spilling out of his eyes in anger. "I must've done something completely inexcusable, perhaps even treacherous to the State, because one day, I woke up and I was missing two years of my life."

Ianto had stood up, all annoyance forgotten in the face of Jack's pain, moving over to wrap his arms around his lover's waist to assure him that he would always be there for him. He sighed gently and pressed his nose to the back of Jack's head, closing his eyes and concentrating on the scent of his hair and the feel of his heart beat.

"In some ways, that was the best thing that ever happened to me. I made my way here, pulled cons and scams to try and get my memories back until I met the Doctor." Jack's voice softened and he laughed slightly at the memory. "He made me see I'd lost most of my humanity and he gave it back to me before the Game station. I died to save him, to give him that few extra seconds to save the world. Thanks to that one bad con, I was given a second chance."

"Then I guess I owe him more than I realised before." Ianto murmured, mostly just thinking out loud.

"Without him, Ianto, I wouldn't have had a purpose. I wouldn't be here in Cardiff and I would never have stuck around long enough to find you." Jack whispered once more, turning around and kissing Ianto slightly desperately, bodies pressed close together in the shadows and the starlight from the unusually clear night sky.


	15. Chapter 12

Okay, another chapter I really like, though more angsty than before. I'll just be quiet and let you read!

Thank you **SO** much to everyone who's reading and commenting, I'm incredibly happy that you guys are enjoying the story!

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Chapter 12

_**The damage is infectious, the confession is too late  
**__**And how can I accept this  
**__**How is this happening to me?**_

They'd gone to bed shortly after Jack's confession and Ianto had fallen asleep reasonably quickly, worn out and aching after the weevil hunt, his stomach hindering him from anything more strenuous than kissing.

Jack lay next to him, holding him close, until he was absolutely certain that Ianto was completely asleep. He spent a few moments watching the gentle rise and fall of his lover's chest before he eased himself away. He knew already that he wouldn't be sleeping and he didn't want Ianto to wake up – the young man had an uncanny ability to do so when he thought that Jack was thinking too hard.

With a sigh, he pulled the bedroom door to and headed back through to the living area, getting a bottle of whiskey from the kitchen and sitting down in the armchair next to the window he'd been standing at earlier. He'd deliberated for a moment about getting a glass, but discarded the thought in an instant. Now was not the time for him to be thinking rationally about drinking.

As he sat down, he twisted the lid off the bottle and took a long, burning drink of the liquid. His throat felt like he'd set it on fire, but it didn't stop the memories that were flickering through his mind.

… "_Oh, God! Please, I didn't mean it to happen." The man strapped to the table was writhing in agony, screaming and bleeding and crying as Jack watched, unimpressed. "It was an accident, it wasn't supposed to be a weapon! It was a transport, I swear! Please!"_

_Jack smirked at him as he pressed a button on his wrist strap and a surge of electricity ran through the man's body, his back arching off the table as he screamed like a man possessed. With a signal of his hand, Jack ordered two more men to come into the room and take over. He left the dark, concrete room to face his partner in crime. _

"_Some of your best work." The man said with a smirk and a suggestive wink. Jack grinned at the shorter man and leant back against the wall, oblivious to the sobs and screams that alternated from within the room next to them. _

"_I picked up a few tricks on that last expedition we took in the Fi'llen Nebula. They're pretty ruthless, I'll tell you." Jack grinned and laughed before heading off down the corridor, pleased to have had a chance to try the new torture techniques he'd learnt._

_He didn't particularly care that the man was found innocent a few weeks later, after a prolonged admittance to the local hospital _…

He shuddered and winced at the memory and downed another quantity of the drink. He had managed to forget about those memories in the heat of trying to get his stolen two years back – his days of torturing hadn't been the most prominent of things to keep him fired up. He'd been working away from that area for several years before the shake up to his life.

Now that he thought seriously about everything, he realised that he'd committed horrendous and unjust acts without batting an eyelid, without considering the consequences, most times pushing further for the sadistic joy he'd gotten from hearing another person scream in pain.

It was only now that he was confronting those acts and it felt like he was being tortured himself. The horror of those unlocked memories was seeping through all his others and staining the present day. It was all he could do to stop them tainting his memories of Ianto.

He was vaguely aware of the tears sliding over his cheeks again and he hit his forehead hard with his free hand, teeth clenched again in a bid to remove the sounds and sights in his mind. When that didn't work, he downed another large measure of the liquor.

The cycle continued until the bottle was empty and he was slouching further down the seat, head lolling to one side. The bottle slipped from his slack hand and fell to the floor, rolling slightly across the carpet as Jack was carried away into a dream he wouldn't remember in the morning.

*

Ianto woke sometime in the early morning, a few hours after he'd fallen asleep, to a chill running across the exposed skin of his back. He was confused for a moment but as sleep detached itself, he realised his t-shirt had ridden up slightly and left a gap of skin.

It wasn't for a few more moments that he realised how odd that was. Jack was usually there as his own personal bed warmer, but the sheets were abnormally cold. He pulled himself up into a sitting position, pulling the duvet up to his chin and his knees to his chest.

He glanced around the room to try and find a note, like the last time he'd woken up alone, but everything was as they'd left it the night before. Yawning, he dragged himself from his cocoon of warmth and padded out into the living area, scanning the room briefly before his eyes rested on the scene by the window.

Jack was lying slumped over in the armchair and for a moment, Ianto's heart leapt in his chest. He edged over to the soft lit figure of his lover and saw the slow, slight movements of his chest as he breathed in and out, relief starting to move through him. Ianto's foot hit the empty bottle on the floor and he winced in sympathy as he realised what had happened, the smell of alcohol on Jack's breath reinforcing his diagnosis.

Brushing Jack's hair off his face, Ianto sighed and stroked his cheek gently. He smiled sadly as he remembered that Jack was one of the most graceful drunks he'd seen. When he drank too much, he just got more horny and flirtatious, but he never lost composure, never staggered or slurred his words. He was still the same man he always was – he never got rude or violent and he never lost his sense of dignity.

Right now, he just looked lost and alone. There was nothing dignified about him tonight.

With another sigh, Ianto pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa and wrapped it gently around Jack so he wouldn't get cold, then returned to his bed, curling up tightly and pulling duvet around him, telling himself that Jack would be alright, he just needed time and support.

Ianto was more than willing to give him both if it would help him heal.


	16. Chapter 13

Sorry that this has taken so long to get up! I'm so out of the habit of posting regularly :( I really really apologise and promise to finish this story and start it's sequel within the next couple of weeks! Only a few more chapters of this to go anyway :D

I hope you're all enjoying it and thanks for reading! Remember, the **Children of Time Awards** are open and I'm up for **Favourite Author** and **Best List Fic** - even if you don't vote for me, get on over there and vote!

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Chapter 13

**_It's not fair, it's not fair  
And I come up for air  
_****_How's this happening to me  
It feels so lonely here_**

Ianto woke up at his usual time, but instead of slowly waking himself into a state where he could shower and dress, he snapped his eyes open and leapt from the bed, swinging round the door to see how Jack was.

His heart sank as he saw the chair was now empty, the blanket shoved carelessly to one side. He scanned the flat carefully and found all of Jack's clothes from the day before gone, a clean shirt missing from the wardrobe and his dirty clothes in the wash basket.

Ianto knew that Jack could be an incredibly private person, but that didn't stop him from feeling incredibly lonely right then. He'd looked for a note and checked his phone for messages, but Jack had left without a word and he probably wouldn't see him all day. There was always the chance that he'd come back the next night for reassurance sex, but the thought made Ianto even more annoyed.

He loved Jack, he really did, but he hated being treated like this. It was the kind of thing that Jack had sworn he'd put a stop to when Tom had left and when Ianto had said he wanted to be with him. It was something he thought Jack understood had to be a permanent change. What was the point in all this if Jack didn't want him around when he was going through a hard time?

'_Old dogs' and 'new tricks' spring to mind…_ Ianto thought wearily, his annoyance already fading down into a dull loneliness at not having Jack there. He felt more than a little pathetic, but he knew there was no changing the fact that he missed his lover.

With the same feeling of disinterest and indifference, Ianto got ready for work, spending a little longer than usual on getting ready purely to kill time before he arrived at the Hub. His mind and heart were warring over whether he wanted Jack to be there or not. He decided that he didn't. Waking up alone again wouldn't hurt so much if Jack was brooding on a rooftop somewhere.

As predicted, Tosh and Gwen welcomed him with open arms and he did a quick round of coffee before making a trip to the local bakery to grab some Danish pastries for breakfast. He was already starting to feel a little better, now that that he was surrounded by the usual sounds of his colleagues laughing and joking.

"Hey! I haven't eaten anything since last night, would a little room service kill you?" Came a disgruntled voice over the intercom. Ianto found himself surprised that he hadn't checked whether Jack might have taken John on another hunt. Instead, he rolled his eyes dramatically and took a container of cold noodles and a bottle of water down to him.

"Here you go. I'll come and check on you in a couple of hours." Ianto said casually as he pushed the sustenance through the hatch at the bottom of the door.

"Eye-Candy?" John asked as Ianto was about to exit the ante-chamber to the cell doors. With a sigh, he turned round and headed back to the door, looking through the small porthole at John. "Will you answer me a question? As honestly as you can…"

"I'll try." Ianto said curtly, intrigued at the sincerity in John's voice.

"Do you think that Jack will be happier here than back out in the stars?" John was chewing on his lip, obviously aware of the fact that his time was running out to change Jack's mind. Ianto stayed silent as a thought rung loudly in his head.

"At the moment, I don't think he'd be any happier where ever he was." Ianto said quietly, looking straight at John, their stares locked together for a moment before Ianto turned sharply on his heel and left the room, heading back up to the Hub.

Ianto was quiet as he thought about his words, knowing deep down that they were true. He almost walked into Jack, he was so deep in thought. The other man caught him deftly round the waist and smoothly moved a little so that he wouldn't collide with him. It took Ianto a moment to realise what had happened, but when he did, he looked up at Jack with a scowl of hurt and shoved him away, stalking off to the kitchen area.

"What did you do this time?" Tosh asked him archly with a scolding expression on her face. Jack was pleased to see that Tosh and Ianto had such a strong bond, but the motherly protection of hers wasn't pleasant when directed at him.

"I think I know." Jack said quietly, having the good grace to look repentant as he shuffled off to his office to hang his coat up. He quietly set about sorting out the paperwork on his desk, working through a pile before going to find Ianto.

After a few minutes of strenuous interrogation, Gwen let slip that he was hiding down in the archives. He let Tosh shoot him a warning glare before moving off to find the young man in a bid to apologise and explain his actions. When he reached the door to the room Ianto was in, he leaned against the door frame and watched him work for a minute or so.

"Do you need something, sir?" Ianto asked coolly, his tone professional and curt as he spoke without turning around.

"I need to explain about last night." Jack said after a moment, absently holding his breath as he waited for Ianto's response.


	17. Chapter 14

Woo! Uber productive day guys! I've almost finished a cool AU fic of Jack and Ianto's relationship.. like COMPLETELY AU and I love it ;D Can't wait to have it polished to show you guys!

Also, I'm trying really hard to sort out 'And So It Begins... Again' to carry it on soon (I'm so intensely sorry for the huge delay with it!) - but please enjoy this chapter, it's winding down to a 'close' know ;)

Also, don't forget to go find the **Children of Time Awards** and have your say!

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Chapter 14

"No you don't." Ianto said finally as he turned round and looked at Jack, all annoyance gone once more so that Jack could see the hurt in his eyes and the look of resignation on his features. "You're not happy here, Jack, I can see that but I know leaving wouldn't make it any better. I thought I would be able to help, but I don't know how to anymore."

"Ianto," Jack stepped forwards and gripped him gently by the tops of his arms, looking him in the eyes carefully, "I went out for some fresh air because I felt bad enough already that you'd seen me passed out, I didn't want you seeing the waking ramifications."

"I wouldn't have cared." Ianto said stubbornly, the hurt still present in his eyes, still cutting into Jack like a knife.

"I know and I realised that about ten minutes after I reached my rooftop." Jack offered a small smile before sighing lightly and carrying on. "I saw another of the creatures and I realised John gave us the wrong frequencies to search for them. I've been hunting them out all day and I've managed to round the other three up now."

"You still didn't call." Ianto countered, trying to keep up his façade. They both knew it was slipping, that Jack was fully forgiven for leaving the night before.

"Yeah, okay. I don't have some magical excuse for that one. I just forgot." Jack hung his head slightly and looked up at Ianto through his eyelashes, an expression of regret of his face which made Ianto smile in spite of himself. "I guess I got caught up in the chase…"

"So what now?" Ianto asked carefully.

"I'm sending John back to his home the next time there's a Rift flare." Jack said with a grin which didn't quite meet his eyes. Ianto watched him quietly for a few moments before leaning in a little and kissing him gently, letting Jack wind his arms around his waist and pull him closer, deepening the kiss just a little more.

Ianto ran his fingers through Jack's hair and breathed in the comforting scent of him, feeling himself at ease a little more already. After a few more minutes of the intense embrace, Jack pulled away and nuzzled Ianto's neck gently, his nose pressed to the soft skin underneath his ear.

"Are you feeling any better yet?" Ianto asked softly, stroking the back of Jack's neck in a way that he knew calmed and soothed his lover when he was upset or annoyed.

"Not particularly, but the more I pretend, the better I can get through the day." Jack mumbled, sighing heavily again. "Can I come over again tonight?"

"Of course you can." Ianto whispered, leaning in as Jack kissed him again, the sadness inside him almost tangible in his touch. "Two things though."

"Yes?" Jack pulled back and his expression clearly told Ianto he was expecting retribution for his behaviour.

"One, please don't leave me with exposed skin in the middle of the night again." Ianto smiled slightly, laughing lightly at Jack's confusion. "And two, don't try and drink your sorrows away. I want to help, but if I can't, don't go to alcohol. I know you react differently to it than we mere mortals do, but I know it doesn't sort any problems, just postpones them."

Jack looked hard at Ianto, the memories of finding Ianto passed out in his flat flashing between them. After he was suspended for the Lisa incident, Jack had gone to check on the young man a week or so later, as he hadn't answered his phone for three days in a row.

… _Jack gave up on pounding on the door and scrambled to pull his copy of Ianto's front door key from his pocket, fear lurching through him as he desperately hoped the young man hadn't tried to commit suicide. Tried and succeeded. _

_He opened the door and squinted through the gloom to find the light switch, flicking it on and almost reeling backwards in shock. Ianto was lying in the middle of the floor, curled up next to several empty beer bottles and an almost finished bottle of Jack Daniels. He was sound asleep, his breathing and heart rate shallow. _

_Jack sighed and knelt down next to Ianto's unconscious and vulnerable form and brushed his hair back off his forehead, taking in the sight of the bruise like bags under his eyes, his slightly sunken eyes and pale skin. Gently, Jack manoeuvred him into his arms and carried him through to his bedroom, lying him on top of the covers as he moved through to the bathroom to start running a bath. _

_Ianto had been hard to wake up, but in his semi conscious, drunken haze, Jack got him washed and dressed for bed, tucking him up under the covers and moving off to tidy the rest of the flat as he wondered what he was going to do about this._

_It was blatantly obvious that Ianto hadn't been eating properly for a while, now that he thought about it and felt the unpleasant lightness of his body, and it was even more obvious from the bottles strewn around the place that he'd been drinking his calories since he'd come home a week ago. _

_It had been a long, hard slog over the next couple of weeks for the two of them to clean Ianto up to the point where he was healthy and in a good place to mourn and move past Lisa. To both of their surprise, Jack stayed with him the entire time and they'd healed the broken bond between them, strengthening their friendship, laying the foundations for what was to be built between them later_ …

"I promise." Jack said with a smile, pulling Ianto tighter towards him and kissing him deeply once more.


	18. Chapter 15

First off, I must apologise for this really late update! I've been trying to log onto fanfic for the past few days but to no avail. I was really hoping to get it finished this week, and I'm going away tomorrow morning until sunday, gah!

For that reason, I'm strongly considering posting the two remaining chapters tonight (the second in an hour or so?) to let you stew this fic for a bit. The next section of the series is probably my favourite (the song I chose is one of those that just sinks right to the bone with me) and that will start sometime next week ;D

Please enjoy guys, and thankyou for the patience!

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Chapter 15

_**All of your secrets  
**__**All your lies, all of it**_

"You're going to send me back, just like that?" John asked incredulously as Jack stood in front of the Perspex wall of his cell, arms crossed firmly across his chest as he watched the prisoner with interest.

"Sure, why not?" Jack asked innocently, shrugging slightly.

"Well… I threatened to kill you for one, almost threw you off a roof, remember?" John said sarcastically, sitting back against the wall and frowning at Jack in confusion.

"Yeah, but I'm a pretty resilient guy, you wouldn't have done as much damage as you thought you would've done." Jack replied with a grin. "Is that all?"

"No!" John jumped up and walked towards the barrier, leaning against it. "I came here to bring you back, you've only been gone for about eight months…"

Jack's jovial expression dropping instantly. "It's been a lot longer for me and I've had plenty of time to decide what I wanted. This is my life now."

"Your mother came looking for you after you left, as well." John said darkly. Jack froze and stared at him wide eyed.

"Why?" He asked quietly.

"Why else?" John snorted and started to pace up and down his cell. "It's been almost twenty years since she's seen you and you didn't even leave a message. She wanted to know whether she still had a son."

"She wanted to know if I'd found _him_ yet." Jack said bitterly, leaning his shoulder against the barrier and looking at the door to the corridor that lead back upstairs, half tempted to just make a break for it again. But he was tired of running away form his problems. He'd done it too much in his past.

"What would you do if I told you that what happened in those two years was related to your brother?" John asked silkily, watching the other man carefully. Jack met his gaze calmly.

"I would tell you that you're lying to me to get me to go back with you." Jack said with a trace of pain hidden behind the amusement in his voice. "John, give it up. Since I disappeared, so much has happened to me, so much has changed. I've been to hell an back more times than you would believe and I've finally found someone who loves me for who I am and who I could more than happily spend the rest of my life with."

"What's he got that I haven't?" John hissed, clearly upset by Jack's words.

"A few more inches, that's for sure." Jack said with a malicious wink. John glowered at him and pursed his lips in indignation. "Look, John, I'm a different person to who you know and there's no going back. I wouldn't try to reverse it even if I could."

"You're a better person than I am, Jack." John said with a sigh, conceding to his point. "What should I tell you mother? What should I tell Karina? Do you even care about them?"

"Tell them that I'm finally living my life." Jack said with a small smile. "Tell my mother that I'm not coming home, I meant what I said, not without Grey. Tell Karina to forget whatever it was that I did to earn such loyalty from her. If I don't remember, I don't deserve it – especially since I'm not the man she thinks she's devoted to anymore. Tell them both that the man they knew is dead."

John watched Jack stare off into the distance for a while before letting his gaze follow the other man as he pushed himself away from the wall and walked out of the room, heading back up to his team – to Ianto. John glared at the place he'd just moved from and vowed to get his revenge on Jack.

_The only change I can see is that he's weaker,_ John thought savagely, _he loves too much and that's going to hurt him one day_. As soon as the words flashed through his head, he started to formulate a plan, a vicious grin slowly crawling across his face.

*

Making sure that Tosh was monitoring the Rift carefully, Jack went through to his office and sat down, letting his thoughts drift through his past as he carried on with paperwork once more. He had absolutely no desire to dwell on his past life any longer than need be, but from experience, the memories would haunt him if he continued to suppress and ignore them.

He reasoned that if he dealt with them whilst John was here, they would finally leave him alone once the man was gone. Then he'd be able to enjoy the present – to enjoy Ianto and their relationship. The thought made a smile pull at his lips. He was actually in a relationship with Ianto, the man he loved and who loved him. It was a peaceful feeling, one he would never have let himself feel back in the fifty first century.

Losing his brother had hardened him and his mother's treatment of him had done nothing but harm to Jack's ability to trust and believe in people. Not that he blamed her for those years, but he couldn't deny it was a factor in the equation…

"Here you go." Ianto's voice drifted him back to the present with the scent of fresh coffee as he handed him his mug with a small smile. He was about to leave Jack in peace when he turned to ask a question. "You don't have to give me an answer, but who's Karina?"

"Karina…" Jack echoed, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of his coffee. "Well, from my recollection, we were dating – and I say that in the loosest sense of the word. I think we'd spent the night together two or three times. But that was before the two missing years, so beyond that, I have no idea what there was between us."

"Do you ever think about what could've happened in them?" Ianto asked curiously, half dreading the answer, half wanting to hear it.

"I used to think about them all the time – it was the search to get them back that brought me to World War two the first time, when I met the Doctor. Now? Sometimes." Jack admitted, looking at Ianto with a steely determination. "But as I said before, without losing them, I wouldn't have this life and I wouldn't have you."

He smiled at the faint blush that crept up Ianto's neck, slightly colouring his pale skin as he smiled in return. Jack knew how much it meant to Ianto to hear him say stuff like that. Seeing as every word was the truth, he resolved to say it more often, to make sure Ianto knew without any doubt how much he loved him.

Having said that, he did still wonder what had happened in his life – what could he possibly have done to deserve it? He'd decided a long time ago that he didn't want to know and he was sticking to it. Forcing the thought from his head, he got up from his desk and moved over to Ianto, pulling him into a kiss worthy of a Shakespeare play.

"Now, if you don't mind, we need to find a Rift flare." Jack said as he pulled back a little, the seductive tones to his voice hinting at what might possibly be in store for Ianto that night, should they return John before the day was through.


	19. Chapter 16

I think this is possibly THE most awesome end chapter ever :P I really hope you like it!

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Chapter 16

_**We are in a mess, a danger zone  
**__**What will happen next, you never know**_

Tosh and Ianto were tasked with monitoring the Rift, Jack checking in for updates every once in a while. At some point, he and Owen disappeared for several hours, popping in now and again to see if there was any news.

Towards the end of the afternoon, Jack returned for good with his constant inquiries about the Rift situation. He'd also changed his clothes, so Ianto could only assume that the two men had been sending the creatures back home in a pre-emptive strike.

It was at 6:37 pm when they got their first, significant spike. It was located at the top of a car park, where the Rift had been volatile since John presumably came through. Jack started laughing and ran down to the cells as soon as Tosh cross examined and confirmed the activity. Ianto followed him as far as the door that lead to the garage and broke off to up the SUV.

Tosh was going to stay back and keep an eye on the Hub and the others were going to escort John to the breach, to watch him walk through before sealing it off. Ianto had been assessing and preparing the SUV for less than ten minutes before they joined him, Gwen and Jack climbing into the back of the vehicle with John, whilst Owen took the passenger seat and Ianto climbed behind the wheel.

From glances in the rear-view mirror, Ianto could see that Jack was exceedingly happy about the event, the grin on his face also goading John - who was looking rather less pleased and was sulking, fiddling with his handcuffs.

"You can't open them, dead bolt seal. I have the only key and you're not getting it until you go through." Jack said happily, glancing over at his now fuming captive.

"You don't have to treat me like a dog." He growled, but Jack's eyebrows rose and his expression shifted.

"Oh, but I can." Jack said with no hint of humour in his voice. "When you come onto my territory and start treating my team – my friends – as you own personal slaves… _then_ I can treat you like a dog."

Jack returned his gaze to looking out of the window next to him and John huffed, settling for trying to annoy Jack as much as possible by turning towards Gwen instead. The woman had managed to stay unusually detached from the situation, which Ianto applauded her for.

Whilst she was a good hearted woman and had become a good friend to him, she still had an alarming knack for getting heavily involved with problems that were primarily someone else's, whilst ignoring her own as much as possible.

"I never really asked, what do you do in Jack's palace under the pavement?" John asked the woman genially.

"I'm police liaisons." She said curtly, having flicked her eyes towards Ianto before she spoke, a silent question as to whether she should reply. He'd given her the slightest of nods without turning his head or moving his eyes. They needed to keep him as occupied as possible.

"Liaisons? I thought Jack just charged in headfirst! Doesn't that make you his lap dog?" John's tone hadn't changed at all, but Ianto noticed Jack's jaw clench and his expression darken as the other man spoke.

"When he charges in headfirst, it's usually part of the plan. We've all followed him to the end of the world and we'll all do it again. All of us would be dead if Jack didn't remind us that there was more to human life than simply saving it." Gwen turned and smiled at him, keeping up a flawless front to counteract his. John shrugged and turned back towards the front of the car, just in time for Ianto enter the car park.

"Well wouldn't you know, even your precious Space/Time continuum remembers me." He murmured with a small smile as they wound up through the five levels to the top and drove across to where Owen's monitor was indicating.

"Right. Out." Jack said coolly as the SUV came to a halt and he threw his door open. He didn't quite understand what John had done to annoy him so much, but right now - despite the previous good mood - he just wanted him away from his new life. He didn't want the memories back, he didn't want to know what he'd done. He just wanted Ianto and he didn't want to waste anymore time on the past.

As he slowed to a halt, a hand gripping John's shoulder, he realised - in a strange moment of forceful clarity - that he wasn't annoyed at him, he was annoyed at himself. With a sigh, he twisted John round and released the cuffs around his wrists.

"Listen, I know you'll probably say no, but can I at least have my guns back?" John looked at Jack with a pleading expression and the captain nodded. He understood how dangerous it was for an unarmed man in the fifty first century – never mind a rogue ex-Time Agent. As much as he loathed John Hart, he couldn't send him away unprotected. He signalled to Owen and Ianto, who opened the boot and pulled a box from inside.

Ianto unlocked it and Owen took the two handguns out that they'd confiscated when he first arrived. He tossed them to Jack, who in turn passed them over to John. The man sighed almost inaudibly as he gripped the handles and wrapped his fingers around the well worn grooves.

"Look, John…" Jack began, rubbing the back of his head as the Rift started to flare open. "I'm sorry for all of this, for you coming all this way. I really am."

John leaned in suddenly and kissed him hard, almost desperately. He withdrew almost as soon as it had started and lifted a hand to run his fingers over Jack's cheek gently.

"So am I." He said sadly, eyes locked with Jack's as he raised his gun and fired. Before Jack could even take another breath, John was running through the Rift and vanishing in a flash of white. Behind him, there was the sound of a body slumping to the floor and one of the women screamed, someone else swearing loudly.

Jack's heart stopped as he turned around.

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A/N: I'll start the next installment of the series before the end of the week! The next story is possibly one of my favourite fics I've written - I hope you enjoy it and THANKYOU for reading and for all your comments :)


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